


Human's Intuition

by Queen of the Castle (queen_of_the_castle_77)



Series: Three Companions Who Stopped the Doctor From Turning Himself Human (and One Who Didn't) [3]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drama, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-20
Updated: 2011-08-20
Packaged: 2017-10-22 20:54:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/242473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queen_of_the_castle_77/pseuds/Queen%20of%20the%20Castle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He trusts Rose enough to put his life in her hands. She asks him to trust her in another way instead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Human's Intuition

**Author's Note:**

> Human Nature/The Family of Blood had Rose not fallen into a parallel universe during Doomsday.

“Do you trust me?”

There are a lot of reasons why she shouldn’t, of course. He’d proven to her time and again that he’d go behind her back (sometimes literally, like with that damn parallel universe jumper thing) if he thought he knew better than her. But it was the Doctor. She trusted him with her life on a daily basis. She even trusted him with her heart, even when she shouldn’t, and even though she’d never told him as much. She doubted she’d ever meet anyone she trusted as much as she did him.

“Of course I trust you,” Rose said.

“Good. I need to rely on you this time. More so than usual, that is. Because I can’t do this without you. I’m going to turn myself into a human, so it’ll all be up to you.”

“Turning yourself human? What? S’that like regeneration?” Rose asked, slightly panicked. “’Cause I remember the last time you did that and, sorry, but you were completely useless straight after. D’you think this is such a great time for a twenty-four hour nap?”

“No, it’s not like that. It’s temporary. I’ll store myself as I am now in here,” the Doctor indicated to an intricate-looking fob watch that he’d retrieved from the junk he kept under the console. “My body will be turned human, and the TARDIS will come up with a life story for me, and integrate me into society.”

“What, so you won’t remember anythin’?”

“No. Until we open the watch – which we’ll do after three months, when the Family will have died off – I’ll just be an ordinary human.”

“You won’t even remember me?”

“Well, there’ll be a degree of residual awareness that’ll allow me to let you in, but it’ll really be up to you to make sure you’re integrated into my life. I doubt it’ll be hard. I might not remember you, Rose Tyler, but I’ll always need you around me. And I really do need you to be as close to me as possible, this time. I’ll be putting my life, everything I am, in your hands.”

“Then it’s not about me trustin’ you after all, is it?” she pointed out. “Your life in my hands –sounds to me like you’re the one who needs to be trustin’ me.”

“’Course I do,” the Doctor replied immediately. “Rose Tyler, the hero of folklore in at least thirteen galaxies throughout time and space. The stuff of legend. Saved my life personally more times than I can count. I always trust you.”

“Do ya, though? With the stuff that really matters? Because every time we get in a situation as dangerous as you’re makin’ all this sound, you go and send me off without warnin’, instead of trustin’ me to take care of myself. How can you trust me with your life if you don’t even trust me with mine?”

The Doctor was silent for a long while, already staring at Rose a bit like she was someone he’d never seen before, even with his memories still intact.

“Is that what you think?” he eventually asked. “That I keep trying to send you away because I don’t _trust_ you?”

“Sometimes I dunno what to think,” she admitted.

“Rose, that’s not ... I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to you and I could’ve prevented it. That’s why – that’s the _only_ reason – I would send you away. Never doubt that I trust you. Sometimes I trust you more than I trust myself.”

Rose contemplated that, aware in the very back of her mind that the danger of their situation meant they had to hurry up and do something other than keep the TARDIS ducking and diving out of the alien’s range. “If you trust me more than you do yourself, can I ask you to do something?”

“Anything.”

“Don’t do this.”

The Doctor frowned. “Rose, I have to –”

“Doctor, please. I have a bad feelin’ about this. I know you think that this is the solution, but there’s just so many ways it could go wrong. More than your usual plans, even. And usually, you’re right there to think your way out of whatever crazy situation your plans have put us in. But you won’t remember being you if you do this. If things go wrong, you won’t be able to bail us out at a minute’s notice.”

“If things go wrong, you can open the watch.”

“What if we get separated, though? What if I have the watch, and they catch me, and I can’t get back to you. You won’t even know that anythin’s wrong. Or if they catch you and I can’t get near enough to you to let you out of the watch. Or worse yet, what if they somehow get their hands on the watch and just use that for whatever it is they want? They could do that, right? And then you and me’ll be left without a way to stop ’em.”

“Rose, you can handle this. They’re unlikely to be able to track us anyway; that’s the point of all this. But if they do, I know you’ll figure something out.”

“But what ...” Rose trailed off, the words catching in her throat. This was her main concern, the thing that she didn’t really want to bring up for fear that he’d realise the true reason behind that fear. But if he wasn’t going to listen to anything else... “What if you’re hurt while you’re a human? It doesn’t even need to be anythin’ to do with aliens. You might get hit by a car or somethin’. You’ll be _human_ , Doctor. You won’t be able to just regenerate. It’s like you was sayin’ about livin’ with yourself if somethin’ happened to me. How’m I supposed to feel if you die because of this when I could’ve stopped you?”

“Rose ...”

“No,” she said, suddenly resolute. “I won’t let you do this.”

“Just like that?” the Doctor asked, amusement quirking the corners of his lips.

“Yep, just like that. I’ve got a gut feeling, and I trust it. I need you to trust it too. Don’t do this.”

“All right.”

“All right?” Rose asked, shocked but hoping she’d heard right.

“Yes. I forget sometimes, but you humans are amazing. You’ve got all these little instincts and intuitive skills that you mostly ignore, but they’re so often spot on. Rose Tyler’s gut instinct? No better guide in the universe, I say.”

Rose sighed in relief. “Good. Oh, good. Thank you.”

“No worries. Just means I have to use my completely brilliant Time Lord brain and my very own instincts to come up with an even better plan. A doubly better plan. No, triply. And now that I’ve set the bar that high, better get cracking on it, wouldn’t you say?”

“Nah, it’s when you aim for ‘quadruply’ that I’ll start worryin’ you’re stretchin’ yourself,” Rose teased, flashing her tongue between her teeth in a smile.

“Quite right. So, come on Rose Tyler. We’ve got some aliens to confront. Allons-y!”

 

* * *


End file.
